


howl

by inkin_brushes



Series: Immortals (Vamp AU) [11]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-05-27 07:01:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6274474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkin_brushes/pseuds/inkin_brushes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanghyuk didn't think it was wrong to be intrigued by someone wanting him, even if that someone was a centuries old vampire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sanghyuk sat in the back of Hakyeon’s car primly. The atmosphere was so heavy that he was surprised it hadn't crushed him flat. Quite beyond anything, being in such a small enclosed space with a vampire should have been giving him a panic attack. The fact that he felt only the normal amount of fear was probably because of how bizarre it was to see a vampire sitting calmly in the passenger seat. 

Or rather, it wasn't that Taekwoon was sitting calmly, or else the atmosphere wouldn't be what it was. More, he was sitting in a stiller mimicry of Hakyeon, who was driving in silence, ignoring any of the company currently in the car with him. The two of them were thoroughly mad at one another. It made Sanghyuk feel like he was trapped in a car with two warring parents. 

Wonshik's new home was far enough away that although Taekwoon was able to make his way there on foot, neither Sanghyuk nor Hakyeon could have hoped to get there and back without seriously cutting down on the time they could actually spend with Wonshik and Hongbin. It had been decided to take the car, whose GPS and tracking systems had slowly fizzled into irrelevance at some point last week as all the wards from the people using the car shorted them out. Hakyeon had gleefully removed them and tossed them away, and now they could talk comfortably. 

Not that there was much talking going on in the car currently. 

Sanghyuk cleared his throat, unable to take it for any longer. "What— what sort of place does Jaehwan live in?" he asked, voice gradually become meeker as he went on, like the sound of it was encroaching on the silence which had become almost sacred. 

It took Taekwoon a couple of seconds to answer. "Underground," he said. "It's a house, underground. It belonged to our maker before he died. It is big enough to house all of us without trouble, but it is a thoroughly depressing place. Our maker had a certain aesthetic that Jaehwan continues to find amusing and strikes to keep alive."

“Do all vampires live underground?” Sanghyuk asked. He had heard about Taekwoon’s apartment from Hakyeon, although Hakyeon had refused to take him there. 

“The sensible ones do,” Taekwoon said simply. He turned his head in Hakyeon’s direction. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

Hakyeon heaved a sigh. Sanghyuk saw his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “I know,” he said, “you’ve said that a hundred times already.”

“I do not want to take you to that place,” Taekwoon said, his voice gone soft enough that if Sanghyuk wished, he would be able to ignore it completely, let the sight of the scenery occupy his mind rather than the brewing argument which he had seen hashed out a number of times already. “It’s not safe to be in that place with two freshly turned vampires, especially one who has been having the issues that Hongbin has been having.” 

“We’ve already met up with Wonshik without a problem. And Jaehwan says that it’s safe to meet with Hongbin now. It’s been a couple of weeks since that first time and he’s— he’s feeding like he should be, Jaehwan said, and you know he’s lucid for hours at a stretch. You’ve seen him.” 

“Jaehwan would say anything to make things more amusing for himself,” Taekwoon said, a low dangerous note in his voice. “You know better than to trust anything that comes out of his mouth, Hakyeon. And just because Hongbin can _sometimes_ maintain his lucidity for a few hours, does not mean he will this time.” 

Hakyeon stiffened. “I don’t know what you want me to say or do,” he said through gritted teeth, “or more, I know exactly what you want me to say and do. You want me to turn this car around, go back home, forget about this whole thing. Well, I can’t do that. You can’t expect me to not take this chance to see Hongbin again. He’s my _family_.”

His voice broke a little. Sanghyuk looked down at his hands, twisted in his lap. He’d spent so long listening to Hakyeon talk about Hongbin that to him, it just seemed perfectly natural that Hakyeon would do anything he could to see him again. It was why Sanghyuk was going; he wanted, more than anything, to meet Hongbin for himself. While he understood that Taekwoon was concerned about the safety of it, Sanghyuk knew that Wonshik wouldn’t agree to anything which would put either him or Hakyeon in any danger, and if he truly believed it was safe for them to see Hongbin, Sanghyuk would trust him. 

Taekwoon remained silent after that, a silence that he maintained even as he was lifting the perfectly normal looking grate down at the end of a long, dark alleyway that Sanghyuk would, even as a trainee hunter, be afraid to look down. The removal of the grate revealed a long drop, with a metal ladder showing the way down. Hakyeon went down first, wary for all he had said in the car, and Sanghyuk followed. Taekwoon flitted down without use of the ladder, which made Sanghyuk wonder why it was there. Then he realised that glamoured humans would probably have to climb their way down and resolved to not think about it any longer.

At the bottom of the ladder there was a long corridor, which Sanghyuk was only able to see with the help of his owl eyes tattoo, since Taekwoon had replaced the grate and the darkness was as thick as tar. It was Taekwoon who led the way, even before Sanghyuk could fully see. He took Hakyeon’s hand, who in turn took Sanghyuk’s, and began to tug him along. 

The tunnel went on for longer than Sanghyuk would have expected, twisting around corners and descending, but eventually they came to a doorway. Oddly, the door in said doorway looked like a perfectly normal front door to any house, albeit overly large, heavy, and engraved with swirling patterns which made Sanghyuk suspect it had been brought here from a different country. Taekwoon didn’t bother knocking, merely pulled the door open without any ceremony whatsoever, and ushered them inside.

Wonshik was waiting for them just inside the house, a smile already threatening to crack his face in half. “You came!” he said happily, engulfing first Hakyeon and then Sanghyuk in hugs. “I don’t know how to explain how happy I am that you came. And grateful. I’m so—”

“It’s okay,” said Hakyeon, laughing. “I wanted to see Hongbin, I needed to.”

“He’s in the bedroom, he needs— he’s a bit nervous, you know, although I told him not to be, he’s just preparing, he’ll be through in a bit— but come in, come on, the living room is this way—”

Jaehwan’s house was, as far as Sanghyuk could tell, exactly what would be thought of if someone said to him “vampire lair”. They’d lit some candles, probably for the humans’ benefit, and it just added to the overall ambience. Sanghyuk rather thought he might have preferred it to be full dark, since he could see the decor in all its garish detail, between the candles and his owl eyes amplifying their light. The whole place was over the top and tacky and hurt his eyes as well as offended his sense of interior decorating. In the back of Sanghyuk’s mind he found that he was mentally envisioning Wonshik, Hongbin, and Jaehwan laying down to sleep in coffins with each sunrise. The association was just too strong. 

It was bigger than Hakyeon’s place, the entranceway leading into a large living space which contained a truly horribly maroon couch, and a coffee table with what looked like dragon’s talons for legs. Sanghyuk glanced at Hakyeon and found that he was pulling a face at the table, upper lip curled in disgust. Sanghyuk seconded the feeling. 

It was all so— he wanted to say it was very Jaehwan, but he didn’t even know Jaehwan. More than that, it just seemed overly _vampire_ , the whole thing, like he’d gone out of his way to make it uncomfortable for the humans. The fact that he was sitting in an armchair drinking from a plastic bag of blood didn’t help the feeling. Sanghyuk averted his eyes from it, stepping closer to Hakyeon, feeling a slight lessening of his fear as he did so. 

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Jaehwan said from around the straw in his baggie. 

“Ignore him,” Wonshik advised.

“This is my home,” Jaehwan said in indignation. “I will not be ignored in my own home.” 

Taekwoon was glaring at Jaehwan, who was ignoring him with the ease of someone quite used to ignoring the disapproval of others. He lifted himself out of the armchair and made his way to out of the room, through an archway, grumbling about ungrateful kids. Sanghyuk let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. 

As he did so, there was a shuffling sound from behind them, emitting from the hallway, and another vampire stepped slowly out of the darkness. He must have been Hongbin, and Sanghyuk wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been this exactly. He’d seen photos of Hongbin, of course, knew what his face looked like, but he hadn’t expected him to look so frail, so beautiful in a way that made his stomach uneasy. Or maybe that was just because he’d heard this slim, tall man scream and laugh from behind a warded door. Sanghyuk had had nightmares about that laughter. 

There was a moment of utter silence as Hongbin walked to Wonshik, avoiding their eyes. He took Wonshik’s hand, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then looked at them, smiling, a little strained. “Hello,” he said. He had dimples and for some reason that made Sanghyuk feel less scared of him. 

“Hongbin,” Hakyeon choked out, his voice breaking as he started to cry. He rushed forward and enveloped Hongbin in a hug that, if Hongbin had been human, could have crushed a couple of his ribs. He buried his face in Hongbin’s shoulder, shoulders heaving with sobs. Hongbin lay his head on Hakyeon’s, hugging him back, more lightly than Hakyeon by far.

Taekwoon made a short, sharp gesture, taking a couple of steps forward, putting him in easy distance of the hugging pair. He, for his part, seemed to be waiting for something to give. Sanghyuk fancied he could still see the residual madness in Hongbin’s eyes, although perhaps that was just poetical thinking. Wonshik wouldn’t have invited them over if it wasn’t safe. 

He hoped.

“I missed you so much,” Hakyeon sobbed. He lifted his head, showing the large wet patch on Hongbin’s shoulder he had left behind. “I’m so sorry, for everything— for leaving you behind, for not being there with you, for yelling, I’m so _sorry_ —”

“Hakyeon,” said Hongbin, looking touched and alarmed in equal amounts. “You don’t— don’t need to apologise for anything, it wasn’t your fault—”

Hakyeon shook his head. He took a step back, letting Hongbin go, bringing his hands up so that he could wipe ineffectually at his eyes with the back of his hands. Hongbin took Wonshik’s hand again, clinging to it, and Sanghyuk saw Wonshik squeeze it, looking at Hongbin with a smile that made something heavy settle in Sanghyuk’s stomach, something not quite jealousy, something just more than envy. 

“We let you go off alone,” Hakyeon said, voice a little calmer now but still thick with tears. “We broke all the rules and you— when you disappeared I thought the guilt was going to kill me, and then, when— when you weren’t— dead, I suppose, it wasn’t any easier. I’ve always just wanted to apologise. I— I want you to know how sorry I have always been.”

“You sound like Wonshik.” Hongbin looked at Wonshik with an expression that seemed a little different to the way Wonshik looked at him, like he couldn’t believe Wonshik existed for a very different reason to why Wonshik couldn’t believe Hongbin existed. “He— neither of you need to apologise. I made a decision and it was my decision to make. It could have been you guys. If you’d been with me, maybe it would have been you guys too. We can’t know.”

Hakyeon embraced him for a long time, silence throughout the room. When he stepped back, he turned to Taekwoon, who stared back at him without a single change in his facial expression. Sanghyuk was still trying hard to get used to this way of communicating they seemed to have developed to deal with Taekwoon’s tactiturnity. 

“You can relax,” Hakyeon said softly.

“No,” Taekwoon said. Hakyeon pressed his hand to Taekwoon’s chest, and Taekwoon just jerked his head in a short shake. “He doesn’t have it fully under control yet.”

“He won’t hurt me.”

“He might try,” Taekwoon disagreed. Hakyeon made an angry noise in the base of his throat.

“He’s right,” Hongbin said apologetically. “I— I might. I don’t want to but I don’t have control yet. I don’t know when I’ll get— hungry.”

“The hunger isn’t something we can control,” Wonshik explained. “It’s a compulsion, Hakyeon. And Hongbin— he feels it more than other vampires.”

“So it’s _not_ safe here,” Sanghyuk said, before he could stop himself. 

All the eyes in the room fixed on him, and that was a terrible feeling, so many vampire eyes pinning him to the spot. He got the impression that they’d forgotten he was there beyond being another heartbeat. “No,” Hongbin said softly, “it’s not. Not completely.”

“Oh,” said Sanghyuk. He felt suddenly faint, tears pricking at his eyes. A couple of the pairs of eyes turned concerned.

“Hey, kiddo, don’t worry,” Wonshik said, taking him by the shoulders. “It’s not completely safe but that— it doesn’t mean—”

“If he loses control, I am here,” Taekwook said. The way he said it seemed to suggest that the _entire_ reason he was there was for if Hongbin lost control, rather than any real desire to be there. 

“Right,” said Wonshik, sounding a little deflated. 

Sanghyuk smiled at the expression on his face and Wonshik smiled back and let him go. He was back at Hongbin’s side immediately, moving faster than a human. It was like he was pulled back there by the gravity of Hongbin’s body. He led Hongbin to the couch, telling everyone else to sit too. Taekwoon, as usual, chose to remain standing, by the side of the armchair that Hakyeon sat in.

There was a brief, awkward silence. It became clear that after the initial outburst of emotion, no one quite knew what to say. Hongbin was giving Taekwoon strange, side glances. In an undertone to Hakyeon, he said, “How have you been?”

The question took everyone, but most of all Hakyeon, by surprise. “I’ve been…” He looked like he didn’t know how to answer. “I’d say fine but we all know that’s not true. I mean, compared to you,” he added hastily, “I’ve been perfectly okay, but it’s been hard, you know?”

Hongbin nodded gently. “Wonshik told me about his turning, and why he did it. I was surprised to hear about Taekwoon. I never— out of everyone, you were the last person I would have ever expected to get caught up in— this kind of thing.”

Hakyeon gave a tense, tight smile. “It just happened,” he said.

“I’m not— Hakyeon, I’m hardly in a position to judge you for anything.” Hongbin gave a hollow laugh. “I managed to ruin a lot of lives that night, didn’t I?” He looked at Wonshik, a drop of blood running down his cheek. Sanghyuk blinked. He hadn’t known that vampires could cry, and he certainly hadn’t known they cried blood.

Wonshik cupped Hongbin’s cheeks, staring at him fiercely. “Don’t say that,” he said, “you have to stop blaming yourself for this. I made my decision on my own, and so did Hakyeon. It wasn’t your fault, what happened. Don’t— don’t cry, you know what—”

“Yes, yes,” Hongbin said impatiently. He straightened up, wiping at his face although no more tears had been shed. “Now then,” he began, looking at Hakyeon and Wonshik in turn with an expectant expression. “Isn’t anyone going to properly introduce me to Sanghyuk?”

Hakyeon gave a little jerk of surprise and Wonshik’s mouth fell open. “Oh,” he said, turning wide eyes on Sanghyuk, “kid, I’m so sorry, I completely—”

“It’s okay!” said Sanghyuk hastily. He didn’t think he could take Wonshik actually admitting to having forgotten about Sanghyuk, that he didn’t know Hongbin. “You guys were busy, I know that. I figured you just— you know— forgot that we haven’t met, really, and I didn’t want to interrupt again.”

Hongbin shook his head. He gave Sanghyuk a warm, friendly smile, one which made Sanghyuk smile automatically back, just a little. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Hongbin said. There was nothing, nothing in his face or voice which recalled the terrifying monster he’d been when he had been locked up in the cells in HQ. “Wonshik’s been talking about you so much, I wanted to get to know you myself.”

Sanghyuk could feel himself blushing. He tugged on a lock of hair by his ear, embarrassed at the thought of being discussed. “That’s funny, because Wonshik’s always talked about _you_ ,” he said shyly. “He and Hakyeon both. I always wondered what kind of person you were.”

“What sort of things have they been saying?” Hongbin asked, leaning forward and lowering his voice into a conspiratorial tone.

“Hakyeon says that you were a better hunter than Wonshik was,” Sanghyuk confessed, aware he was throwing Hakyeon under the bus. But it was something that he’d always wondered about, unsure if Hakyeon was just making fun or if it were true.

“Hey,” Wonshik said heatedly, turning to Hakyeon, “what the hell have you—”

“It’s true,” Hongbin said casually. Wonshik jerked his head in his direction in an oily movement and growled, low in his throat. Hongbin gave him a soft, sweet smile. Wonshik’s irritation dropped off his face in an instant, and Hongbin laughed before turning back to Sanghyuk. “It’s really nice to meet you, Sanghyuk. I really want to be friends with you, if we can. You’re important to Wonshik and that means you should be important to me, too.” 

“I’d like that,” Sanghyuk said. He meant it, too, even though the energy and adrenaline pumping through his veins at that moment told him quite clearly that just being in this room was a huge mistake. On a common sense basis, that was obvious. But he could do it, couldn’t he? Even though he was scared, even though he knew that neither Hongbin nor Wonshik were fully in control of their hunger, he could still be friends with them, couldn’t he?

The introduction out of the way, all of the attention in the room seemed to fix on Hongbin once again. Wonshik and Hakyeon no longer seemed to be aware that any other creature existed in the world, and Sanghyuk couldn’t blame them. Hakyeon in particular had already done his grieving for Hongbin; seeing him alive and mostly well must be like seeing a ghost. Seeing that expression on their faces— it was painful, causing a tender ache in Sanghyuk’s chest.

 _I’m going to cry_ , Sanghyuk realised, and the thought made him feel small and young and pathetic. He couldn’t do it here, where the others would see. They already thought of him as nothing more than a child, to be protected and watched over and not truly allowed out into the world. Sometimes he appreciated that, but he didn’t want to do anything which further imprinted the idea in their heads. 

Quietly, he excused himself and left the room to find a bathroom. Hakyeon squeezed his hand on the way past, resurfacing from Hongbin long enough to tell Sanghyuk to take his time, to let Hakyeon know if this was too much. Sanghyuk didn’t know how to tell him that it was already too much, but not for the reason Hakyeon thought. He felt Taekwoon’s eyes on him the entire way as he left the room. 

The first bathroom he found was far down the hallway, right before the hall made a sharp turn right. It was as lavishly and garishly decorated as the rest of the apartment. He didn’t know of any other person who would paint a bathroom this shade of maroon. All of the fittings in the sink had once been gold, but were faded from years, possibly centuries, of use. When he turned the tap on, part of the gold covering flaked off in his hand.

The sounds of the water covered the sounds of his quiet sobs relatively well, so that he didn’t think even the vampires in the building would be able to tell the difference. He didn’t allow his crying fit to become prolonged, cutting it off as soon as he could, his composure returning to him in a quick snap. 

He splashed his face with the cold water thundering from the tap, before cupping it in his hands and bathing his eyes in it, feeling the sting of the tears fade away. When he lifted his head to look at himself in the mirror, his eyes didn’t seem as red as before. Maybe, if he was lucky, no one would notice.

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath. He couldn’t believe he’d been so affected by the reunion. He’d expected the tears from everyone else, but he had never met Hongbin before, and hadn’t thought that it would be as emotional for him as it had been. But then it was more than that, more that just emotions. 

Sanghyuk had never seen Wonshik look like that. He’d never seen Wonshik smile like he had done when he looked at Hongbin. He’d seen Wonshik smile before but, he suddenly realised, he’d never seen Wonshik actually _happy_.

Was this what it took for Wonshik to happy? Was Hongbin the only thing in the world who could make him happy like that? Had everything else not been enough, had his friendship with Hakyeon, his mentorship of Sanghyuk, not been enough? It hurt Sanghyuk to think that no matter what he did, in his own way he’d never have been able to make Wonshik happy again. 

“This is where you disappeared off to.”

Sanghyuk jumped at the voice, spinning to find Jaehwan lounging in the door of the bathroom. His arms were folded across his chest casually but he was doing that thing with his eyes again. It made the hairs on the back of Sanghyuk’s neck stand up on end. That look felt like he was being devoured as he stood there. 

“Everyone was _crying_ back there,” Jaehwan said, snorting lightly. “Nobody seemed to have noticed that their youngest was taking so long to return.” The way he said youngest sounded like he was laughing at Sanghyuk. As usual.

“I didn’t want to intrude on them,” Sanghyuk muttered, looking at Jaehwan’s folded arms. He was scared of Jaehwan, he couldn’t escape from that, he was scared of all vampires, even Wonshik, on some level, but the urge to avoid looking into Jaehwan’s eyes was particularly strong, especially here, where they were alone. He wasn’t sure what Jaehwan would do if he looked into his eyes— would he try glamouring him? Sanghyuk didn’t know, because he didn’t know Jaehwan, but the feeling of _predator_ rolled off Jaehwan in waves, thick and almost heady. Hongbin would only attack them if he lost control; Jaehwan seemed like the type to attack Sanghyuk just for the fun of it.

He was trapped, too, stuck in the bathroom with Jaehwan in the only doorway. He wouldn’t be able to make his feet walk forward, wouldn’t be able to make Jaehwan move without his voice shaking, his body trembling. His wards were already crying in discomfort just at this distance, across the room from him. He didn’t dare move at all.

Jaehwan was peering at him. “Have _you_ been crying,” he asked, voice blunt with disgust. 

Sanghyuk’s heart hammered in his chest for some reason. “No,” he protested weakly. 

“You have,” Jaehwan said. “Why were you crying? You don’t even know Crazy.”

“Wonshik,” Sanghyuk mumbled. “He just— he looks so happy now. It’s— I’m happy for him but it also makes me sad.”

“Imagine that,” Jaehwan said. “A happy vampire.”

Sanghyuk risked a look at his face, although he avoided his eyes. Jaehwan was frowning slightly, looking past Sanghyuk into nothing, chewing his bottom lip. He looked deep in thought but barely even twitched in surprise when Sanghyuk spoke. “Aren’t you happy?”

Jaehwan looked, at first, like the question merely confused him. Then he grinned, his eyes going intense again. He looked Sanghyuk up and down and Sanghyuk tried to not think about how his eyes seemed to linger at Sanghyuk’s crotch, on his throat. “Why do you ask?” Jaehwan murmured, almost a purr.

“I just— you didn’t look or sound it, when you said that.”

“And what if I wasn’t?” Suddenly Jaehwan was no longer standing in the doorway. Instead, he was inside the room, standing over halfway to Sanghyuk, who took an automatic step backwards and found himself pressed against the wall. Then he tried to pretend like he was casual and like he hadn’t just panicked. “Do you want me to be happy, Sanghyukkie?”

“Well, yeah,” Sanghyuk said blankly. “I mean, I’d like it if everyone was happy, you know? And only my grandmother called me Sanghyukkie, I don’t— please don’t call me that.” 

Jaehwan chuckled lightly. “Oh, you are so precious,” he murmured. “No wonder the others tried to warn me off. Has anyone ever told you, Sanghyuk, how attractive you are?”

Sanghyuk blinked and then blushed so hard he felt it, the spread of heat through his entire body. “N-no,” he spluttered. No one had, either. He’d always been something that everyone else just looked through, looked past. A kid, a nobody. It had worked for him. In high school, he’d been gawky and awkward, kept his head down. Now, at HQ, he was just a trainee, a nuisance more than anything. His mentors being two of the best hunters out there had afforded him a begrudging sort of respect from some of the other hunters, but Wonshik being turned had been a blow. Even with his recent kills, nobody was expressing any interest of that sort in Sanghyuk. 

“Did I embarrass you? I didn’t mean to.” Jaehwan didn’t sound particularly apologetic though. “I was just curious. Because you are, if you were wondering. Very attractive.”

He said attractive in the way a starving man might say _delicious_. Even so, Sanghyuk still muttered, “Thank you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t thank me just yet,” Jaehwan said, smirking. He was getting closer, slowly, as if by doing so he wouldn’t frighten Sanghyuk. If that was the aim, then it was pointless, because Sanghyuk was so scared he was completely frozen to the spot. He wondered if Jaehwan could hear the frantic beating of his heart in his chest. 

“But I’m wondering what that means,” Jaehwan said, his voice a purr that was making Sanghyuk’s stomach do weird twisty things. “If no one has told you that you’re attractive, does that mean you’ve never — what is it you humans say, that awful cliche phrase — you’ve never been _confessed_ to.”

“No,” said Sanghyuk truthfully.

“And kissed— how about kissed?”

Sanghyuk flushed, hands curling into fists by his side. Jaehwan noticed and his grin widened. “That’s none of your business,” Sanghyuk muttered. It was getting difficult to talk.

“A virgin,” Jaehwan said softly, staring at Sanghyuk’s burning cheeks, at the way he was fidgeting. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?” He laughed, a little, to himself more than _at_ Sanghyuk. “Even Taekwoon wasn’t so lucky.”

Sanghyuk didn’t want to answer that, didn’t know how to reply. He stood, frozen to the spot, his primary emotion abject terror, but feeling small and weak, and a little humiliated besides. So what if he was a virgin? He had time. He was only _seventeen_. 

Jaehwan strode forward, stopping too close to Sanghyuk for comfort. He was only a little bit taller but he used that to his advantage, seeming to loom over Sanghyuk. “You’ll be gorgeous one day,” Jaehwan said, voice low, intensifying the twisty feelings in Sanghyuk’s stomach. “You’re pretty now, so pretty, but— one day.” He shook his head and exhaled, even though Sanghyuk knew vampires didn’t breathe. The air ruffled Sanghyuk’s hair; he was close, too close. 

“I’m not— not pretty,” Sanghyuk stammered out.

“You are,” Jaehwan said. “Maybe not to the humans, but to me—” He reached out a hand, too fast for Sanghyuk to jerk away from, and cupped Sanghyuk’s cheek. Sanghyuk’s wards went off, sending a wave of energy through him jerkily, flooding him with adrenaline, but Jaehwan didn’t blink. Instead, his other hand came up and cupped Sanghyuk’s other cheek, and he took a step forward so that, although their bodies weren’t touching, Sanghyuk was effectively trapped with his back to the wall. 

“What are you doing?” Sanghyuk whispered; it was all he felt capable of doing.

“I want you,” Jaehwan breathed. His head tilted down, and Sanghyuk could feel his gaze boring into him, although he kept his eyes averted, almost desperately. “I want you, Sanghyuk.”

“Let go of me,” Sanghyuk whispered. His heart was beating so hard he felt like he was going to die.

There was a pause, just for a moment, and then Jaehwan did so, letting him go and backing away with his hands held up. He was grinning, like it was some joke to him. “Are you really so scared of me?” he asked. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I don’t know that,” Sanghyuk said. “I don’t even know you. I thought that Hongbin wouldn’t hurt me but Wonshik— he said that he might. If he might hurt me, when he cares about Wonshik who cares about me, then why wouldn’t you hurt me?”

Jaehwan threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, that’s so _logical_. Of course, you’re forgetting one thing, and that is I’m not like Crazy. I’ve lived for centuries, Sanghyuk, I’m in control. You could be bleeding out in front of me and the bloodlust still wouldn’t even more than twinge on the edges of my consciousness. The answer to your question is, of course, I won’t hurt you because I simply don’t want to hurt you.”

“And what if you wanted to hurt me?”

Jaehwan’s eyes flickered back to his body, eyelids going heavy as his gaze lingered on the soft, exposed skin of Sanghyuk’s throat. “Well then,” he said huskily, “that would depend on if _you_ wanted me to hurt you.”

“I will never—” Sanghyuk began heatedly, but then Jaehwan had gone still for a second, listening, making the words die in Sanghyuk’s throat. He could recognise _danger_ when he saw it; the way Jaehwan was standing made him think of an animal being stalked.

The next second, though, Jaehwan was back in his personal space, hands pushing Sanghyuk’s shoulders to the wall almost painfully hard, and his face was _pressed to Sanghyuk’s neck_. Sanghyuk screamed, his fear overwhelming him, fear that he hadn’t felt since he’d been confronted with vampire Wonshik at HQ. His hands scrambled at Jaehwan’s shoulders, trying to claw him off, but Jaehwan was immovable, chuckling lightly at Sanghyuk’s attempts. 

“Get the _fuck_ off him,” came the sudden yell from the doorway, and Jaehwan left him, flitting away while laughing hard. Sanghyuk sank to the floor, crying, hands pressed to this throat in an attempt at protecting himself. 

Hakyeon was in the door, looking furious, his dagger in his hand and raised. Jaehwan looked at it and snorted. “That’s not going to do you any good,” he sneered.

Out of the space behind Hakyeon materialised Taekwoon, who reached out and plucked Hakyeon’s dagger from his hand, and held it in his own. He glared at Jaehwan and said, “I won’t kill you.”

“No,” Jaehwan agreed. “What will you do, Taekwoon? With your measly knife.”

There was a blur of movement and then Jaehwan was on the floor, hitting it hard enough that Sanghyuk felt the ground move underneath him. Taekwoon was on top of him, the dagger sliding slowly into the skin of his belly. Jaehwan screamed, arching around the silver, trying to dislodge Taekwoon like Sanghyuk had tried to dislodge him earlier. His success was about as much as Sanghyuk’s own success.

“This measly knife could gut you,” Taekwoon hissed, face pressed to Jaehwan’s. Sanghyuk became aware of hands on him, pulling him up insistantly. “I shouldn’t imagine it would be enjoyable, holding your insides in while you wait to heal, Jaehwan.”

“Come on,” Hakyeon said, pulling Sanghyuk to him, pressing Sanghyuk’s face to his shoulder, away from the scene on the floor. “It’s okay, Sanghyuk, you’re safe now—”

“He didn’t hurt me,” Sanghyuk muttered. Jaehwan had scared him, yes, but he thought this was a somewhat over the top response. “He wasn’t trying to hurt me, he knew you were coming. He just wanted to scare us both.”

Hakyeon held him away, staring at him. “Are you defending him?” he asked in disbelief. “After— after what I saw him trying to do to you?”

“He wasn’t actually going to bite me,” Sanghyuk said. “I’d already told him to leave me alone and he did. He just— just wanted—”

“He wanted to make us angry,” Taekwoon said. “Jaehwan enjoys that. It makes life more interesting.” He twisted the knife in Jaehwan’s stomach, and Jaehwan made a gurgling noise. 

“Don’t hurt him,” Sanghyuk said, taking a step towards the pair. “You don’t— don’t have to hurt him, he didn’t hurt me. Please.”

Taekwoon stared at him solemnly, dark eyes unblinking and unreadable. Then, eventually, he pulled the knife from Jaehwan’s stomach, climbing to his feet in one smooth, oily movement. Jaehwan bit off another scream, hands clamping over the wound, fingers slippery with his own blood. 

“You are too kind for your own good,” Taekwoon said slowly. 

“Isn’t he just,” Jaehwan gasped out, struggling to sit up. The blood was already lessening off. “But he’s right, I didn’t hurt him. I wouldn’t hurt him, you know that, Taekwoonie.” Taekwoon snorted. Jaehwan looked pointedly at his stomach and said, “You wound me, Taekwoon. Literally, this time.”

“You will live,” Taekwoon said shortly. 

“In a manner of speaking,” Jaehwan quipped. “Threatening to gut me, Taekwoon? That’s a new one. I don’t imagine that had everything to do with my advances on the youngest member of our merry pair of humans. Will you hurt me every time I talk to your little pet?”

A second later he was on the floor again, Taekwoon’s knee pressed to his throat. Jaehwan flailed, gasping like he was struggling to breathe. Then he fell still, looking bored. “I have no need for air, Taekwoon, you know that.”

“Perhaps you have a need for an unbroken neck,” Taekwoon hissed. “You test my patience, Jaehwan. You do so on a normal day, but this is beyond the pale. You threatened Hakyeon, and I won’t tolerate that. And you will leave Sanghyuk alone.”

“You cannot kill me, so what is there that you can do to stop me? You can hurt me, yes, smash my skull into my marble flooring, _again_ , but I will heal, Taekwoon. What’s a brief amount of pain in these centuries we have lived? Besides, Sanghyuk is perfectly capable of making his own decisions. Perhaps he doesn’t want me to leave him alone.”

“He is a _child_ ,” Taekwoon hissed. Sanghyuk opened his mouth to protest that, but Hakyeon slapped his hand over it.

“So is your precious Hakyeon, according to our standards,” Jaehwan said. He laughed hollowly. “Are you going to lecture me on morality and standards of behaviour, Taekwoon? I’m not the one actually fucking a human here, am I? Forgive me if I don’t think you’re a paragon of decentness right now.”

A second later, Taekwoon was standing in front of Hakyeon and Sanghyuk, reaching out and taking them by a shoulder each. Sanghyuk fought not to flinch. “Come,” Taekwoon said. “We should leave. Talking to him is impossible. Dawn will be soon and I don’t wish to be stuck in this place.”

“Okay,” said Hakyeon, eyes flickering to Jaehwan, who was laying on the floor, eyes to the ceiling. “We’ll— Sanghyuk can stay with me, we don’t need to make the trip to his apartment as well.”

Sanghyuk sensed that Hakyeon was waiting for Sanghyuk to protest, but he didn’t. Part of him was grateful. He didn’t think he wanted to be alone. It was true that Jaehwan hadn’t hurt him, but he could still feel the ghost of his face against his neck, sending shivers down his spine. How easy it would have been for him to sink those fangs into his skin, rip out his throat, let him bleed out on the bathroom floor — and it wouldn’t matter that Jaehwan hadn’t asked permission to feed, because he wouldn’t need Sanghyuk’s blood anyway. It had terrified Sanghyuk how easily he had been able to imagine Jaehwan doing it. 

“Come,” said Taekwoon again, softly, moving to block Sanghyuk’s view of Jaehwan. Only then was Sanghyuk able to make his feet move, stumbling along between Hakyeon and Taekwoon, Hakyeon’s arm around his shoulder helping to keep him upright and moving. 

Just as they left the bathroom, Jaehwan said, “See you soon, pretty Sanghyuk.” Sanghyuk bit his tongue to stop himself sobbing.


	2. Chapter 2

Sanghyuk woke up late the next day, late enough that the sky outside Hakyeon’s window was tinted pale pink as the sun began to go down. He could hear the sounds of the shower, someone moving around in the bathroom. He lay on his back on Hakyeon’s couch, watching as the fading sunlight stained the ceiling pink and orange and then the light faded and he knew that if he didn’t get up, he was going to make both him and Hakyeon very late for work. 

He didn’t feel like it, though. He had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach that he’d had a few dreams that he didn’t really want to think about, and he could still feel the ghost of Jaehwan’s face against his neck. He also felt a bit guilty over how Jaehwan had been hurt, even though he didn’t think that was really his fault. He had made Taekwoon stop, hadn’t he? That had to mean something important. 

He groaned and rolled over onto his side, mashing his face into the back of the couch. Somehow the excitement with Jaehwan had completely overshadowed the original purpose of the visit, and now his memories of seeing Wonshik again, properly this time, and of meeting Hongbin for the first time, would forever have the fear he’d felt hanging over them. 

The journey back the night before had been conducted in almost complete silence, a different sort of silence than the one that had stifled them on the way there. Taekwoon wasn’t one to talk anyway, Sanghyuk knew, but Hakyeon had been uncharacteristically quiet, considering he was no longer miffed at Taekwoon, having gotten his way. He’d kept looking at Sanghyuk every so often like he wanted to say something but didn’t trust his mouth. Sanghyuk had gotten the distinct impression that Hakyeon was angry with him, but Sanghyuk hadn’t understood why.

It had taken a long time to fall asleep, even if Hakyeon’s apartment was one of the safest places he could have asked to be. He was still tired, but awake, his eyes refusing to close again. He was a little hot under the bundle of blankets that he’d wrapped himself in, but he just huddled down into them further, covering his face. It was quieter in there, sounds muffled and blocked out, so when Hakyeon lay a hand on him and shook hard, Sanghyuk shrieked and almost fell off the couch. 

“It’s time to wake up,” Hakyeon said, quietly. Something about the way he said it, plus the curve of his shoulders and tension around his eyes, made Sanghyuk feel like he was getting up to attend a funeral. He struggled out of his cocoon while Hakyeon walked to his kitchen and began making coffee, getting cups and sugar out of cupboards with an efficiency that spoke to a need to keep his hands occupied. 

Sanghyuk stood in the middle of the living room floor, one of the blankets still wrapped around his shoulders. His breathing came shallow as he watched Hakyeon, who didn’t glance in his direction even once. There was silence between them, broken by the kettle shrieking, and when Hakyeon poured the water into the two mugs, he gripped his own in his hands and drank from it well before Sanghyuk would have said it was safe to do so.

“You should go change,” Hakyeon murmured, staring into the depths of his coffee.

“Are you angry with me?” Sanghyuk asked, his voice cracking. 

Hakyeon’s entire body twitched. He sighed and set his mug back on the kitchen counter. “Seriously, Sanghyuk, go change.”

“No,” Sanghyuk said. His voice was a little too loud, and he could feel pinpricks of tears at the back of his eyes. This wasn’t fair. It hadn’t been his fault that Jaehwan had— done what he’d done. “I don’t know why you’re mad at me and I don’t like it, I don’t know what I’ve done wrong—”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Hakyeon interrupted him. “I’m not angry with you, Sanghyuk. I’m angry with myself. I should have known better to take you to that place. I shouldn’t have done it, I didn’t think it through properly—”

“No, that’s not fair,” Sanghyuk said, his own anger flaring up. “I wanted to go, I wanted to see Wonshik and meet Hongbin. It’s not fair for you to make decisions for me like I’m just a child. I’m not, not really.”

Hakyeon gave him a wincing, sympathetic look. It was a look which said that he did think Sanghyuk was a child, but was going to entertain him, and Sanghyuk hated it. “I know you’re not.”

“No, you don’t.” Sanghyuk had his fists balled by his sides and he only just stopped himself from stomping his foot. The blanket slid off his shoulders and lay in a pile by his feet. “You and Wonshik, you both think I’m a child. That’s why you both keep things from me. That’s why you leave me out of things. And I’m not. I may not be as experienced or as old as you, but I’m capable of making my own decisions, and I wanted to see Wonshik last night, I wanted to meet Hongbin. It was _my_ choice.”

Hakyeon seemed to struggle for a few minutes, his mouth working. “I— I knew that Jaehwan was going to be like that.” He snapped his mouth shut again as Sanghyuk stared at him. Then he sighed, scrubbing at his wet hair with both his hands. “No, that’s wrong. I didn’t know. But I knew that he— he’s said some things that have concerned me. He’s— he seems to have fixated on you, a bit. And I wanted to keep you safe, and I should have kept a better eye on you. I shouldn’t have let either one of you out of my sight.”

It was so _frustrating_. “He didn’t hurt me,” Sanghyuk said. 

“That doesn’t mean he won’t.”

 _And whose fault would that be_ , Sanghyuk thought viciously. _You’re the one who dragged us all into this_. 

He clamped his mouth shut. The anger behind that statement scared him, especially because he wasn’t even mad about that. It was impossible to see Hakyeon and Taekwoon together and to blame Hakyeon even the slightest bit for falling, hard. But it wasn’t fair for Hakyeon to take the responsibility for Sanghyuk all on himself. 

“You didn’t warn me about him,” Sanghyuk said. “You can’t keep leaving me out of things, Hakyeon, _please_.”

Hakyeon’s jaw was set and tense, and his head was stiff when he nodded once, shortly. Perhaps he’d been able to guess at what Sanghyuk’s thoughts had been before he’d managed to stop himself from verbalising them. A wave of shame swept through him, his cheeks going red.

Hakyeon came out of the kitchen, and Sanghyuk thought he was going to walk around him back into his bedroom, but instead Hakyeon walked right up to him and enveloped him in a hug that seemed to force all of the air from Sanghyuk’s lungs. Hakyeon pressed his face to Sanghyuk’s hair as Sanghyuk squeaked. “You’re right,” Hakyeon mumbled. “I— _we_ , none of us, we shouldn’t leave you out of things. I’m sorry, Sanghyuk. But I’m just— I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t worry,” Sanghyuk said, patting him awkwardly on the back. “I can look after myself.”

He kindly didn’t say anything about the wet look to Hakyeon’s eyes when he pulled away. 

——

Work that night was boring, tedious. He wasn’t assigned to a patrol, which on paper was supposed to help him continue his training, but in reality was just extra time for him to file the paperwork that neither him nor Hakyeon liked to do. Hakyeon had been sent out for the night with another hunter, looking exceedingly displeased about it, and Sanghyuk knew that only the somewhat fresh reminder of what had happened to Hongbin would keep him from simply wandering off by himself. Sanghyuk had heard him muttering something about “not needing a babysitter” while he stormed out of the office.

With Hakyeon gone, Sanghyuk had nothing more to do than sit at his desk, which he shared with two other trainees, and work his way through the pile of paperwork that had built up. When he’d first dreamed of becoming a hunter, he’d never expected there’d be so much paperwork to do. Of course, with the VCF, it would have been expected, since it was a government agency and those sorts of places prided themselves on being as full of stuffy bureaucracy as humanly possible. But the fact that even the underground hunting unit had so many layers of the same sort of bullcrap was not only surprising, it was downright disturbing. 

It wasn’t as if the paperwork was particularly interesting either. It required so little thinking that he found it impossible to keep his mind from wandering, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted. He wanted his brain occupied so that he could avoid thinking about what had happened yesterday. If he let his brain wander too far, he could still feel the brush of Jaehwan’s mouth against his throat as he’d pressed up close to Sanghyuk’s body. It made his stomach feel odd and twisted. 

He’d been scared. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. He was tired of being afraid, of not being strong enough to handle what he had signed up to do. He was supposed to be a hunter, it was what he was training to do, and yet the presence of Taekwoon their first meeting had almost been enough to stop his heart from fear. He could get through meeting the others through dulling his fear with alcohol, which would mean death in the field. He couldn’t afford to feel so afraid all the time, to freeze up or freak out whenever a vamp got too close. He’d killed those two vamps several weeks ago— but, for all he was praised for it, it wasn’t some great feat. He barely even remembered it, had been overtaken by instinct. It was probably just beginner’s luck. He couldn’t rely on that. 

And then there had been— _stop_ , he told himself firmly, but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t stop the sick thrill that still ran through him when he remembered Jaehwan murmuring how he wanted Sanghyuk, his voice low and husky and completely serious. That wasn’t wrong, was it? Sanghyuk didn’t think it was wrong to be flattered by that, to like hearing it. It was to be expected, when someone showed such strong interest in him, even if that other was a vampire. Perhaps it was more than expected in that case. It wasn’t like vampires showed interested in humans in that way as a rule. They were far more interested in death and destruction than fucking. 

He caught himself after that and blushed so red that one of the trainees sitting a couple of desks away from him asked in earnest concern if he was feeling okay. “You look flushed,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Sanghyuk faintly. “I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m just going to get some water.” And he picked himself up and stumbled to the water cooler and thought about drowning himself in it. 

When Hakyeon came back, their shift was almost over, the sun beginning to creep over the horizon. Hakyeon looked dead on his feet, taking just the time to write a customary report about the night — no kills — and then gather his things so he could go home. He offered to give Sanghyuk a ride, an offer that Sanghyuk took up gratefully. He felt far too tired to make his own way. 

“Sanghyuk,” said Hakyeon quietly, as they pulled up outside Sanghyuk’s apartment. Sanghyuk looked at him curiously. “Thank you. For everything.”

Sanghyuk blinked at him. “You mean the paperwork? It’s not a problem.” 

Hakyeon stared at him and then burst into laughter. Sanghyuk stared at him, bemused. When Hakyeon sobered up, he looked a lot more awake, a little happier, though there was still something dark, some tension lurking in his eyes. “No, I didn’t mean the paperwork. I meant for being so understanding about everything that’s gone on.”

“That’s not a problem either,” Sanghyuk muttered, a little embarrassed. He hadn’t had much of a choice but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he would have made a different decision in the end. Hakyeon and Wonshik were just too important to him. 

“About Jaehwan—”

Sanghyuk froze. “What about him?”

Hakyeon cocked his head to the side, watching him for a couple of seconds. Then he sighed. “Nothing. Sleep well, okay? I’ll see you later on today.” 

Sanghyuk sighed in relief as the door to his apartment clicked shut behind him. He shuffled forward, toeing his shoes off and dropping his stuff at the door to be picked up later. It was a routine of his, to leave everything at the door to just come back to it later, after he’d taken some time to unwind after a night at HQ.

His apartment had been provided by HQ after he’d signed up to join. His family thought that he was training with the VCF, a nice cover story which allowed him to move away to this city, while giving them a reason to brag about him to all they knew. He’d always said that he’d join the VCF when he graduated high school, and being recruited early had been plausible as an excuse for why he’d moved away. 

The apartment was more of a box than an actual apartment. Once he stopped being a trainee there was a good chance he’d be upgraded to a bigger place, and a different trainee given this one to live in. There was a small joint living-kitchen area, with no space for any table or really much cooking, so he usually got take out and ate it sitting on his couch, his laptop propped up on his coffee table in lieu of a television that he couldn’t afford. The bathroom had a walk in shower so close to the toilet that every time he stepped out of it he hit his shins against the porcelain. His bedroom was just big enough to hold a twin bed and a closet which didn’t hold much clothing.

He didn’t much mind the smallness. He was happy enough just to have his own space to come home to each night or morning, a place he could put his own mark on, enough to have it feel like home. He’d been a little worried that he’d have to share an apartment with another trainee but there were so many tiny box apartments in this city and so few trainees that they could afford to provide one for each of them, rent free. 

He flopped down onto his couch on his front, arm caught awkwardly between the cushions and his body. He felt too exhausted to even move it. He wanted to lay there and fall asleep and never wake up, but he was always too worked after work to fall asleep immediately. The early morning sunlight was already starting to creep in through his window, and he groaned and turned his face away, pressing his nose into the back of the couch.

He stopped doing that about three seconds later because it smelled absolutely disgusting, and he flailed and fell off the couch. “Ooof,” he said into his wood flooring, before pushing himself into a sitting position and tentatively touching his ribs to check they were okay. They seemed to be. 

The fall had woken him up some though. With a groan he picked himself up off the floor and went about his routine. He brought his stuff from the door and emptied his bag of files, placed them on his coffee table to work on some other time. Clearing out his bag always made him feel like he was getting home from high school, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to have nostalgia about. 

Next he dug around in his fridge and brought out some two day old Chinese leftovers that he heated up in his microwave and ate while watching the last half of _The Empire Strikes Back_ , which was paused from the last time he’d eaten dinner at home. After he was finished, he put the dish in the sink to wash up when he woke, and sat back down at his coffee table to work on some stuff before he slept. 

He wasn’t sure how he got there, he couldn’t remember what steps had led him to a downward spiral of clicking on links until somehow he was looking at a page about vampire sex. It was like he’d been possessed for a while and when he came out of it there was a page open on his screen that proclaimed to be the “best place to get all your undead loving” and a picture of a busty blonde woman wearing fake vampire teeth with blood dribbling from her mouth like a normal pornstar would dribble come. 

Sanghyuk stared at his laptop in horror, hands suddenly horribly sweaty. He wiped them off on his pants. He’d been aware of the thought in his mind, for a while now, after seeing Hakyeon and Taekwoon together, or perhaps even before that, when Hakyeon had first told him. He’d been wondering how someone even _had_ sex with vampires. It wasn’t, as far as he was aware, something anyone had actually done. You heard all sorts of rumours growing up, on playgrounds and whispered at sleepovers, as many _their semen burns up your insides_ stories as there were _doing it standing up means you won’t get pregnant_ ones. The problem was that while all the ones about human sex became more obviously false the older you got, there was no way of ever being able prove whether the vampire sex stories were false or not.

At least until now. It was pretty clear that Hakyeon wasn’t being burned up from the inside.

Sanghyuk was curious, that was all. It was natural really, after all he’d been subjected to recently. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about it because he didn’t want to do— well, this, but somehow in a tired, post-food stupor, he’d ended up on what looked like a pretty terrible porn site. This probably wasn’t going to be anything like scientific research but considering that actually having sex with a vampire wasn’t exactly a sound decision to make — seriously, what had Hakyeon been _thinking_ — there probably wasn’t actually anything scientific out there. Unless he asked Hakyeon, which, no thanks. 

Fingers trembling a little bit, he took a deep breath and clicked on the first video he came to. It was some sort of amateur video, shot in an expensive looking hotel room, the owners of which probably didn’t realise was being used for such a purpose. The _vampire_ in this situation was a tall brunette woman dressed in blood red lingerie and with a somewhat realistic pair of fake fangs in her mouth. The _victim_ was a middle aged man who had the kind of comfortable look of a wealthy man who was just doing this as a way to get off. The lighting was weird and just made them _both_ look like the living dead.

“I want to suck your... blood,” the woman crooned, palming at the man’s cock in a way that made it quite clear she wasn’t really talking about his blood.

“Oooh, yes,” moaned the man, something squeaky in his voice. 

Sanghyuk watched in fascinated horror. It was bad, worse than he’d even imagined it would be. There was absolutely nothing sexy about it. Besides that, his brain kept pointing out the inaccuracies with it. The woman didn’t move like a vamp at all; she was too obviously human, no matter what kind of makeup they put on her. When the two kissed, it was sloppy and wet because of the fake teeth, and just looked ridiculous. Sanghyuk let out a strangled noise that was more like a giggle than he’d have confessed to.

The woman pushed the man down onto the bed, arching her body as she climbed on top in a way that didn’t look comfortable at all, and was obviously supposed to just appeal to the camera. She ground down on the man’s dick until they were both panting, the noises he was making more real than hers. Then she leaned over and opened her mouth and sank her fangs into the side of the man’s neck.

 _Oh_ , thought Sanghyuk. Obviously there was no blood, although the man certainly reacted like he’d been bitten for real, arching his back with a yell. Sanghyuk was barely paying attention though, because he was remembering the warmth of Jaehwan’s body against his, the whispery way he’d said he’d wanted Sanghyuk, the feeling of his mouth against Sanghyuk’s neck. It would have been easy if he’d just opened his mouth to bite down, and— what would that have felt like, to let Jaehwan bite him? 

Looking back at the video, at the woman biting her way down the man’s chest, his brain quietly changed her into Jaehwan, the man underneath into Sanghyuk, naked and squirming as those fangs, real this time, nipped at his skin. No one had ever wanted Sanghyuk before, and the intensity in Jaehwan’s voice came back to him and made him shudder. 

“Oh god,” he groaned, spreading his legs a little to take pressure off his suddenly half-hard cock. This was bad, this was so bad, he was getting off to terrible porn because of a vampire who had _terrified him_ just over twenty-four hours earlier. What was wrong with him. He was awful, he was going to go to hell, and he absolutely deserved it.

But it was there now, the memory of the intensity of Jaehwan’s eyes, the way he’d touched Sanghyuk’s face, soft enough that although it had scared Sanghyuk at the time, he could only think back on it now with a shiver down his spine. Would Jaehwan be willing to bite him, he wondered— not turn him, not kill him, but just— bite him, just to know what it felt like. 

The thought turned him on more than he’d thought it would, his cock hardening further, twitching insistently with each long drawn out moan from the woman. She was back to grinding now, and Sanghyuk saw him and Jaehwan, their cocks sliding each other as Jaehwan’s mouth bit down into Sanghyuk’s neck—

Oh god this was a mistake. He shut off the video and fisted his hands into the cushions of his couch, breathing deeply through his nose. He wanted so desperately to touch himself, part of his brain whining at him to do so, to wrap his hand around his cock and jerk off to the thought of Jaehwan biting him, but he refused. He wouldn’t do it, no matter how hard it was to resist. He couldn’t control his thoughts, couldn’t control the raging teenage hormones, but he could control his hands, and he wouldn’t make the conscious decision to jerk off to a _vampire_.

After a few minutes of deep breathing and thoughts about every gross thing he could think of, from his parents having sex to the dried out husks of bodies vampires left behind when they _did_ bite people, his erection had died enough for him to awkwardly pad over to the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth and went through a jerky, uncomfortable version of his nightly — or in this case, early morning — routine. It was okay, he told himself. He was a seventeen year old boy who had recently been propositioned by a centuries old vampire, and his reaction was perfectly normal.

He dropped his toothbrush into the sink. There was _nothing_ normal about this, he realised. He let out a laugh that was more like a hysterical sob and he quickly clamped his mouth shut so he wouldn’t make anymore noises like that. 

By the time he flopped into his bed, his cock was thankfully soft. He pulled the covers up over his head, burying down in the comforting warmth of them, creating a safe little burrow which no light or sound could penetrate. “It’s okay,” he whispered, repeating it like a mantra, until sleep arrived to claim him. 

—-

Two weeks later, Sanghyuk turned eighteen. It was a milestone that he’d been excited about, counting down the days to, since it would mark the age that he could level up and become a full hunter in his own right. But the gaps in his training, what with one of his mentors vanishing and later turning up vampire, meant that now he wouldn’t be graduating to that position right now. With that taken away, the appeal of turning older had been diminished quite badly. 

If Wonshik had still been Wonshik, if he’d still been around and mostly whole, Sanghyuk knew that when he walked into HQ in late afternoon, he’d have been greeted with a desk covered in banners and balloons, an oasis of colour in the office. Instead he walked into HQ and there was a single card propped up against his computer screen, from one of his fellow trainees. No one else mentioned the day, those who knew of it going back to avoiding his eyes like they had been doing since the shine of his kills had worn off, like losing one of his mentors to vampirism was catching in some way. 

They were having a party, of sorts, nonetheless, Wonshik leaving Hongbin and Jaehwan behind to have time with Sanghyuk and Hakyeon. Sanghyuk wasn’t sure if he could say that he was looking forward to it, exactly, though he definitely wanted to see Wonshik again. It simply felt so strange, to be celebrating his birthday, to be having a party, after everything that had gone wrong in the recent months. So much, too much, had happened in the past year for Sanghyuk to really feel any sort of celebratory emotions.

The party was being held at Hakyeon’s place. He’d gone out before work and managed to pick up some balloons and banners from somewhere and had strung them around his apartment. It looked, to Sanghyuk’s mind, silly and exceedingly childish, but it pleased him, a little. It was nice to see Hakyeon go to this length of trouble to try to make this into a normal party for him. 

Of course, it was impossible that it could ever be a normal party. For one, it was taking place just after midnight, both he and Hakyeon taking most of the night off. Nobody had found that particularly weird, considering how strange the hunter work hours were normally, but it felt weird to be having a party so late. Secondly, Wonshik wasn’t the only vampire who would be in attendance. Taekwoon currently sat in the living room, making Sanghyuk feel beyond uncomfortable, and inducing him to silence while they waited for the popcorn to cook.

The ding of the microwave sounded tinny and weak to Sanghyuk’s ears, like it could sense the tension running through him and was having to fight to get to him. Hakyeon heaved himself out of his chair and padded absently to the kitchen, waving a hand at Sanghyuk and telling him to stay where he was. That was not exactly what Sanghyuk wanted to hear, because that left him in the room alone with a vampire who, last Sanghyuk had seen him, was stabbing someone through the stomach. 

Taekwoon stayed silent though, poised on the edge of the sofa in complete stillness, like a weirdly positioned sculpture. It would have looked completely insane, a vampire sitting like that, except it didn’t really strike Sanghyuk as funny. His heart was thundering in his chest too hard for him to find any humor in it. 

When the doorbell finally rang, Sanghyuk jumped out of his seat and raced for the front door, anxious to escape that crushing tension. He could accept that Taekwoon wasn’t going to hurt him— unlike Jaehwan or Hongbin, Sanghyuk knew for a fact that Taekwoon wouldn’t hurt him. But being in the same room as him just felt so much more intense than anything he’d ever experienced, perhaps because Taekwoon was so _old_. 

It was Wonshik at the door, just like Sanghyuk had known it would be. He grinned at Sanghyuk when he opened the door, holding a small, brightly coloured parcel in his hands. Sanghyuk’s wards warmed uncomfortably but he definitely felt a whole lot calmer with Wonshik than he did any other vampire. 

“Hey, kiddo,” Wonshik said. “Happy birthday. Can I come in?” 

“Oh!” Sanghyuk started. There was something incongruous enough about a vampire Wonshik standing on Hakyeon’s doorstep that it had made him space out a little bit. “Yeah, sure. Do you need to be invited in, every time?” He stepped aside to let Wonshik cross the threshold. 

Wonshik smiled, a little. “No, but can’t vampires be polite?” he asked, and Sanghyuk turned a little red as Wonshik stepped past him. Sanghyuk watched Wonshik’s eyes immediately hone in on Taekwoon, who had risen from the couch and was standing still and staring back at Wonshik. The smile dimmed off Wonshik’s face. Sanghyuk knew it was silly but it suddenly felt like the tension was a physical thing, pressing down on him, turning him cold and clammy, sweat breaking out on his forehead and the palms of his hands. He made a small noise and Wonshik’s gaze snapped to him in an instant and the tension seemed to lessen off a little. 

Wonshik shoved the parcel he was holding into Sanghyuk’s hands. “That’s from me and Hongbin.”

Sanghyuk gave it a little shake but that didn’t tell him anything about what it could possibly be, since there was no sound at all from inside. “Thanks,” he said, even though Wonshik was laughing at him. There was a small card tucked into the ribbon wound around the present, Sanghyuk’s name written in Wonshik’s handwriting. “What about Jaehwan?” he asked, before he could stop himself.

Wonshik frowned at him, and Sanghyuk squirmed uneasily. “He’s staying with Hongbin,” he said, voice slightly colder than before. “Just in case.”

“Just in case what— oh.” Sanghyuk fell silent as he realised. The silence stretched on for a couple of seconds. That hadn’t quite been what Sanghyuk had asking anyway. He knew Jaehwan wouldn’t be coming tonight, since it was originally supposed to just be him, Hakyeon and Wonshik. The only reason that Taekwoon was here — and still glowering from the couch area — was because he’d insisted on it, just in case. Hakyeon had been incredibly offended at the mere _notion_ that Wonshik would hurt him, but Taekwoon had refused to budge. It had almost been blown into an actual fight, even though the entire thing was conducted with Hakyeon getting more and more strident and Taekwoon merely repeating “No,” every time Hakyeon paused for breath. Eventually Sanghyuk had just whispered that he didn’t mind having Taekwoon there and Hakyeon had deflated. 

No, what Sanghyuk had been asking after was if Jaehwan had sent him a present or something like that. The more he thought about it, the more of a ridiculous query it seemed, but he couldn’t take it back now. Stupid or not though, he was almost disappointed, and he wanted to smack himself for it. Really, what would Jaehwan even give him, a grotesque, gargoyle shaped candle holder? He didn’t really know. 

Sanghyuk shoved that all away mentally and smiled at Wonshik, murmuring a thank you for the present.

Hakyeon bustled into the room then, his face lighting up when he saw Wonshik. He held a huge bowl of popcorn in his hands, the buttery smell of it making Sanghyuk, even nervous and anxious as he was, perk up a little bit. He set the bowl down on the table and embraced Wonshik warmly, although Sanghyuk could see his hands were shaking a little. A movement from Taekwoon in the corner of his eye set Sanghyuk’s nerves jangling all over again.

“Stop that,” Hakyeon said, detangling himself from Wonshik and surreptitiously wiping at his eyes. He gave Taekwoon a swift glance. “Play nice or you can’t play at all.” Sanghyuk didn’t have to be an expert like Hakyeon was to see that Taekwoon looked thoroughly unimpressed by that little dig. 

“I am not a child,” he said, barely more than a whisper.

“Well, you’re acting like one,” Hakyeon said. “Wonshik isn’t going to hurt me. And besides, if he tried, I can just zap him.” He waggled his fingers in Wonshik’s direction, who batted at him weakly.

“Come on, man,” he whined. “That hurts. Like, more than you could possibly imagine.” 

“Sorry,” Sanghyuk mumbled, remembering the way Wonshik had gone to the ground in pain when he’d touched Sanghyuk in HQ, the first time they’d met after Wonshik was turned. It felt like something which had happened years ago. 

Wonshik suddenly looked stricken. “Hey, no, kid, it wasn’t your fault. You’re not to blame. I— I just—” He broke off, rubbing awkwardly at his face. 

Hakyeon broke through the awkward moment. “We were going to just watch a movie, if that’s okay. Sanghyuk already picked out the one he wanted.” He hesitated for a moment and then added, “There’s— blood. In the fridge. I had Taekwoon bring some. I wasn’t sure if you…” He trailed off, biting his bottom lip hard. 

Wonshik nodded. “Thanks,” he said quietly, and turned and padded off over to the fridge. Hakyeon plastered on a brave smile and ushered Sanghyuk to the couch, before taking the popcorn from the table and putting it in Sanghyuk’s arms. Sanghyuk grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth to give himself something to do. 

Wonshik came back in with a bag of blood, straw sticking out of the top, and sat down in the armchair. It made Sanghyuk want to giggle a little even though it wasn’t funny in the slightest. Maybe he wanted to giggle because it wasn’t funny, none of this, and part of him couldn’t quite believe it was happening. 

Hakyeon stepped close to Taekwoon, putting a hand softly on his chest. Taekwoon stared stonily above his head. “I’m sorry,” Hakyeon said, quietly but not quietly enough that the other two in the room couldn’t hear him. “I didn’t mean to—” He broke off as Taekwoon looked at him, his eyes dark and intense, his head tipped to the side questioningly. 

There was a charged silence that made Sanghyuk shuffle in his seat. Then Hakyeon smiled softly and stood on his tiptoes to press his mouth to Taekwoon’s for a brief second. “Thank you,” he said. Taekwoon didn’t reply. Instead he pulled one of the wooden chairs from the table, dragged it into the corner, and then sat down on it like a particularly grumpy guard dog. 

Hakyeon flopped down onto the couch next to Sanghyuk and stole some popcorn. “You should open your presents,” he said around the food in his mouth. 

Sanghyuk retrieved the two he had been given, and tried not to feel a sting of sadness at the fact that the day he turned eighteen was being spent like this. He’d expected something more, but he had to admit that even if things hadn’t turned out the way they had, it was likely that he’d be spending the night with Wonshik and Hakyeon watching a movie anyway. It didn’t make sense to be hankering over something that probably would never have happened anyway. 

Hakyeon had bought him a pair of lined leather gloves, warm and, as Sanghyuk pulled them on to see, fitted well. They had a rune inscribed on the backs of them, which would help him keep his grip on anything he held, even if it was a dagger covered in blood. They were good gloves, perfect for hunting in the winter. Sanghyuk didn’t want to think about how much they must have cost. 

The reason that Wonshik’s present hadn’t made a noise no matter how hard he shook it was because it had been packed inside layers and layers of cloth. It turned out to be a silver dagger, a proper hunting one, the blade slightly curved, with a handle of some dark wood. It came with a silver sheath, engraved with Sanghyuk’s initials. Sanghyuk’s breath caught as he looked at it. “Wonshik—” he said, sounding horribly close to tears.

“Don’t worry,” Wonshik interrupted. “Only the sheath is new. The dagger itself is from back when I was a trainee, though I had it reinforced and got Kyungsoo to put some more protection on it. It’ll work best in your hands. I got it done before— well. Before. I wanted you to have it.”

Sanghyuk swallowed a couple of times and then nodded, looked at the dagger for a couple more minutes, and then put it away carefully. “Thank you,” he said, voice stronger now. Wonshik gave him a smile that was such the _old_ Wonshik that it made Sanghyuk want to cry again. He covered that up by darting out of his seat to turn the movie on. 

He let himself get lost in the movie — he’d chosen Pacific Rim, since it seemed like it would be the least awkward thing to watch, and he loved it besides — and tried to ignore the fact that there were two vampires in the room. It was harder than he’d thought it would be, and he’d thought that it would be near impossible to begin with. It was difficult to relax when each movement from Wonshik was so oily, when everything he said was in that strange new voice of his. Taekwoon sitting still in the corner didn’t help things. He looked like a bird of prey and Sanghyuk kept glancing nervously at him to make sure that he hadn’t moved closer or, worse, disappeared from sight altogether. 

But it wasn’t all bad. Halfway through the movie Hakyeon cuddled in close and lay his head on Sanghyuk’s shoulder, feeding himself from the popcorn bowl and also every so often holding up some for Sanghyuk to take. He was warm and smelled familiar and it really did calm Sanghyuk down just a little bit. 

Later, after the party had finished and Wonshik had gone home to be with Hongbin, as Sanghyuk let himself out of Hakyeon’s car outside his apartment building, Hakyeon said, “Well done, Sanghyuk. For tonight, I mean. I know it wasn’t easy.”

Sanghyuk smiled at him. “And I didn’t even need any vodka.”

Hakyeon laughed, and then looked surprised to hear the sound come out of himself. “Sleep well, Sanghyuk,” he said. “Happy birthday.”

Sanghyuk nodded and shut the door, before he turned to jog up to his apartment. Hakyeon’s car idled outside until he was inside, and it wasn’t until Sanghyuk waved at him through his kitchen window that the car pulled away from the sidewalk. 

Sanghyuk heaved out a sigh of relief. His apartment was perfectly silent and calm, nothing in here making his wards titter in distress. After the night he’d had, it felt wonderful. The sudden calm also made him realise suddenly that he was _exhausted_. It felt like all his energy had been expended on just being in the same room as Taekwoon and Wonshik for a few hours, and now all he wanted to do was flop into his bed and sleep for as long as he possibly could. 

He shuffled his way to his bedroom, pulling his sweater over his head as he went, dropping it in a heap on the floor. In his bedroom he shuffled in the direction of his drawers for some pajamas and then thought better of it and began pulling at the button on his jeans to just sleep in his boxers. He’d brush his teeth, at least, and then—

A tapping at his window interrupted his thoughts. 

Considering he was on the fourth floor, this was not a usual thing. He whirled, heart juddering in his chest, so hard that he was certain this was it, this was the heart attack. His hands fumbled for a weapon that he didn’t have on hand, and he remembered too late that he’d left the new dagger from Wonshik in his living room, he wouldn’t get to it in time—

Jaehwan was perched on the window ledge, his fingers still tapping at the window like a particularly persistent branch. He was grinning at Sanghyuk, his fangs run out. There was something about the moonlight behind him that turned him practically ethereal. 

“ _Fucking shit_ ,” Sanghyuk said, for more than one reason. He slumped, hand over his heart, willing himself to calm down. He wasn’t sure if the vampire outside his window being Jaehwan made him feel better or worse. 

“Sanghyukkie,” Jaehwan crooned through the window, now practically clawing at the glass. “Let me in, Sanghyuk, I need to wish you a _proper_ happy birthday.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Sanghyuk mumbled. He moved his glance from the window to the floor just below the ledge, because he really didn’t want to be glamoured. He then became aware that he was shirtless and that his jeans were mostly unbuttoned. He blushed furiously and quickly re-did his jeans. Then he floundered around the room for a t-shirt to pull on. 

“That’s not very nice,” Jaehwan said. Sanghyuk wasn’t sure what he was meaning, but he was determined to put a shirt on. “I brought you a present and everything.” 

That, very briefly, sparked Sanghyuk’s interest, his inherent curiosity, but that was crowded out when he realized that this was remarkably like the start to a terrible porn movie. Not that he’d seen a movie with this exact storyline, but that was the feeling that he got from the situation. All in a rush as though he’d been physically struggling to hold the memories back — from embarrassment or shame he wasn’t sure — he remembered all the times he’d woken up this week hard and aching after a dream in which Jaehwan did unspeakable things to him. 

And now — and he could feel his arousal building at the mere thought, what was _wrong_ with him — Jaehwan was right outside his window. Right outside his _bedroom_ window, in fact. What if he did let Jaehwan in? Would Sanghyuk let him do those unspeakable things to him? What would Jaehwan even do?

“Probably rip you to shreds,” Sanghyuk muttered to himself. “Get it together.”

“Really,” Jaehwan said. Sanghyuk glanced up to see him waving some rectangular object in the air. “I got you a present.” 

“I don’t want to let you in,” Sanghyuk said stoutly.

“At least open the window,” Jaehwan said, in a low humming tone which made Sanghyuk bite his lip. “I promise I won’t bite.” 

Sanghyuk choked, and had to take a few deep breaths to fight back the sudden wave of arousal. He didn’t want to think about Jaehwan biting him. That had taken center stage in most of the dreams that he remembered. And Sanghyuk wouldn’t, couldn’t, let that ever become something which happened. 

“Do you promise to not hurt me?” he asked cautiously. “Or— not to scare me, like last time?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Jaehwan quipped cheerfully. 

Sanghyuk sensed that that was probably the best he was going to get out of him. He crossed the room and unlatched the window, pushing the pane up. Jaehwan shifted, holding the parcel out. He could have held it little further, pushing it into the room some, but he didn’t, and Sanghyuk rather thought it was deliberate. This way, Sanghyuk would have to reach outside, just a bit. The thought made him want to shut the window again right there and then; the second he put a hand outside of the protection of his wards, there would be nothing stopping Jaehwan from just snatching him. 

But Jaehwan was looking at him, and Sanghyuk got the feeling that he was laughing at him, and so he gathered all of his courage and reached out and took the parcel and then retreated back into safety. Jaehwan didn’t move. “There,” he said. “Was that so hard?” 

“Shut up,” Sanghyuk said. He felt like he was going to have a heart attack again. He couldn’t believe he’d just done that. He couldn’t believe he’d just done that and _lived_. 

“Well, aren’t you going to open it?” Jaehwan asked. 

Sanghyuk looked down at the present. It was wrapped in brown paper, nothing special, and it was heavy and thick. So, probably not a tacky candle holder. He pulled the brown paper off it to reveal— a book, leather bound, expensive. It was about the history of the ancient Egyptians, and their myths and legends regarding vampires. It was obviously very, very old. 

Sanghyuk blinked. “Where did you get this?” he asked, and looked up and, quite by accident, caught Jaehwan’s eye. Something in Jaehwan’s expression made it impossible for Sanghyuk to look away, although he didn’t feel like he was being glamoured. 

“My maker had a collection of books like this, from a long time ago,” Jaehwan said with a casual shrug. “Something Wonshik said made me think that you may be interested in history, so I figured you might like this.” 

“It’s beautiful,” Sanghyuk said without looking down at the book, though his fingers stroked the cover of it reverently. 

“Yes,” Jaehwan whispered, his eyes flickering to Sanghyuk’s mouth, “it is.” 

It was hard, to have Jaehwan looking at him like that. He felt all confused and out of sorts, and acutely turned on. Could Jaehwan smell it he wondered, his nervousness, his arousal? Sanghyuk didn’t want that, didn’t want Jaehwan knowing about his strange attraction to him. It was wrong, and even knowing Jaehwan as little as he did, Sanghyuk knew that Jaehwan would just make fun of him for it.

“Thank you,” he said. His throat felt horribly dry. 

“Mmm,” Jaehwan said. “I’ve got something else for you too.” 

Sanghyuk blinked. “What?”

“You’ll have to lean out of the window a little,” Jaehwan said. Sanghyuk squinted at him suspiciously. “I already promised I wouldn’t hurt you or scare you. If I do then you can tattle on me to Taekwoon and he can suitably punish me.” 

Sanghyuk winced. “I’m sorry, about that, I didn’t know he would—” 

Jaehwan laughed. “Oh, pretty Sanghyuk, you can save your pity for someone else. I don’t need that from you. What Taekwoon does to me ceased being anything I lost sleep over decades ago. Now, I almost enjoy it. At least it makes endless eternity almost exciting.” 

There was something so frank in that, so sickening to Sanghyuk, that he set the book down on the floor beside him and then leaned out of the window. Jaehwan stared at him like he didn’t quite believe he’d had the courage to do it. “Where’s the other present?” Sanghyuk asked, trying to sound impatient. He just sounded like his teeth were chattering from fear, which was true. 

Jaehwan gave a bark of laughter. “You’re an idiot,” he said, almost fondly. “What sort of hunter just sticks his head out of window to give an Elimia perfect access to his neck?” 

Sensing danger — and berating himself because _really_ — Sanghyuk moved to pull back. Jaehwan moved faster. For a brief second, his hands were on Sanghyuk’s cheeks and his mouth pressed a firm, but chaste, kiss to Sanghyuk’s lips. Then he was gone, flittered away into the night, and Sanghyuk fell backwards onto his bedroom floor in shock. 

He touched his fingertips to his mouth for a few long seconds, before he whispered, “Fuck.”


	3. Chapter 3

Sanghyuk stayed quiet about his meeting with Jaehwan. He put the book in his closet where no one would be able to easily find it and he didn’t open it. It was absolutely lovely and the urge to read it almost overwhelmed him some nights, like it was calling at him through the closet door, and maybe it was, maybe it was spelled, but he turned his back on it. He didn’t want to acknowledge the present, not after what had come afterwards. 

Yet all the focus on not thinking about that encounter with Jaehwan meant that he was more distracted than ever. It was becoming so bad that people at work were beginning to notice it. He’d seen the other trainees looking at him askance, avoiding him as though it would rub off on them. Hakyeon was worried about him, but seemed to have put it down to the events of the past few weeks finally really getting to him. They were both showing the strain. 

Before long, an invitation came through Taekwoon to go visit Hongbin and Wonshik again, an invitation that Hakyeon jumped to accept. The invitation included Sanghyuk, but he found himself strangely reluctant to take it. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Wonshik and Hongbin again, so much as he was scared of what would happen if he saw Jaehwan.

He couldn’t think of a reason to not go that would be satisfactory enough. Although he suspected that Hakyeon would take his avoidance of Jaehwan as not only sensible but in fact preferable, it seemed weak to Sanghyuk’s ears. He couldn’t get through his life avoiding these things. He was going to be a hunter. He needed to face his fears.

It was a sentiment he rather regretting when he was standing in Jaehwan’s living room, hugging Wonshik in greeting, and feeling Jaehwan’s eyes on him, as intense as ever, like Jaehwan was doing his best to undress him with his eyes, other company be damned.

Sanghyuk withdrew from Wonshik and turned to greet Hongbin, who was looking healthier than even last time, when suddenly Jaehwan was in his line of vision, and Sanghyuk couldn’t look away. 

“Hello, pretty Sanghyuk,” said Jaehwan smoothly. 

“Uh,” he said. Hakyeon’s hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed soothingly. Sanghyuk fought the urge to throw it off. “Hi.” 

Jaehwan cocked his head to the side. “Don’t I get a hug?” he asked. 

Sanghyuk felt himself relax a little; if Jaehwan was just going to be obnoxious then that was preferable to him spilling the beans on what had happened on Sanghyuk’s birthday. Hakyeon, meanwhile, hissed, “Leave him alone.”

Jaehwan’s mouth quirked into a smile, although he withdrew, hands raised in the air in a mockingly defensive pose. He sat down in the large leather armchair and assumed a position of pretending-to-not-notice-that-there-was-anyone-else-in-his-house, judging by his face. 

Fraction by fraction, the tension lessened, until they were able to sit — or stand, in Taekwoon’s case; he would never sit if he could hover by Hakyeon’s side protectively — and talk relatively normally. They were discussing some aspect of Sanghyuk’s training when Hakyeon, his head cocked to the side, addressed Hongbin. 

“Your hair is so long now,” he said. “Are you going to cut it?” 

Hongbin reached up and tugged on one of the soft curls hanging in front of his eyes. Photographs from before his turning had shown him with short hair, but by this point it was grown to the base of his neck, giving Sanghyuk a feeling that it was partly the hair which made him look so frail. 

“I don’t know,” Hongbin said with a shrug. “I quite like it long.” Wonshik slid his hand around the back of Hongbin’s neck, fingers tangling in his hair. Hongbin gave him a smile. It was a smile that made Sanghyuk’s chest ache. 

“It looks good,” Wonshik told him. 

“It does,” Hakyeon said, impatiently. “I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. I was just wondering.”

“I’ll have to get ties from somewhere,” Hongbin said. “It gets in Wonshik’s mouth while we’re sleeping.” 

“What does that matter,” Jaehwan asked. There was something in his voice, something on edge. “Neither of you breathe anymore.” 

“That doesn’t mean it’s not annoying,” Hongbin said. Remarkably, his voice was perfectly casual and calm, which was not the usual tone anyone ever seemed to use with Jaehwan. 

“That was definitely an advantage of your short hair,” Wonshik said, smoothly ignoring Jaehwan. “Nothing like waking up each morning with hair in your mouth to make you question your decision to turn yourself into a member of the undead for someone.” 

Hongbin gave Wonshik that smile again, slightly crooked this time, and reached out and ruffled his hair. “You’re an idiot,” he said fondly. 

“Save me,” Jaehwan muttered, and got to his feet, looking annoyed. He left the room in the time that it took Sanghyuk to blink, leaving Wonshik rolling his eyes in his wake. 

“Your brother is an utter dick,” he informed Taekwoon.

“I am well aware,” Taekwoon said blandly. They shared a look, one apparently even Hakyeon couldn’t decipher, judging by his frown.

Sanghyuk thought about the book that Jaehwan had brought him. He hadn’t had to do that, hadn’t had to bring him a present for his birthday at all. He hadn’t even hurt Sanghyuk. His kiss had been sweet, and remembering it now still sent a short shock of frisson through Sanghyuk’s body. He wanted to know, so badly, what that kiss had _meant_. 

He waited a few minutes, just long enough that it wouldn’t seem suspicious. Then, interrupting Hongbin mid-sentence, he asked, “Wonshik, can I go explore?”

The look Wonshik gave him was decidedly exasperated. “Explore?”

“Yeah! It’s just, this place is so big and old. It seems so cool, I want to look around. Can I?”

He sounded like an over-excited twelve year old, which, he’d found, always managed to get both of his mentors to be more amenable to whatever he was suggesting. They really did like to think of him as a child sometimes. 

Hakyeon was frowning. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Sanghyuk let his face fall. “Alright,” he said sadly, shoulders drooping.

“I think it would be okay,” Hongbin said softly. Hakyeon’s head whipped around to look at him, suddenly seeming conflicted, and Hongbin gave a one shouldered shrug. “There’s a few cursed objects around but— he’s smart enough to avoid them.”

Sanghyuk beamed at him, and then looked at Wonshik hopefully. After a couple of seconds of thought, Wonshik shrugged as well. “Yeah, I guess.”

Hakyeon huffed, cheeks puffing out, apparently unhappy with being outvoted. “Fine.”

“Thanks,” Sanghyuk said, standing quickly in the hopes of getting out of there before any of them changed their minds.

Wonshik made a sharp motion, and Sanghyuk paused. “Just— don’t go to that one room that I told you about, okay?” Wonshik said, and Hongbin’s eyes darted to the floor. 

Sanghyuk nodded his head, swallowing hard. He certainly didn’t want to go to that room, where they let Hongbin feed when he was in one of his regressive phases. That room had featured in more than one of his recent nightmares, although he didn’t have any idea what it actually looked like.

“Be careful,” Hakyeon called as he walked away. “Don’t touch anything— and yell if you need us!”

Sanghyuk called out a vague agreement and headed in the direction that he thought he’d seen Jaehwan leave, to his left, the hallway badly lit. It took a couple of seconds for his owl eyes tattoo to kick in, and he groped around for a short while before he stood still and let them work, blushing a little in embarrassment at his stupidity even though no one was around to see it. The bottom half of the wall was panelled in a dark brown wood which felt silky smooth to Sanghyuk’s fingers as he brushed them against it as he walked. 

The voices of the others faded fast, unnaturally fast, like each step away from the living room was another layer of padding over his ears, and _that_ was new. He thought it must be some sort of spell on the place, and he wished he already had the oak tree tattoo he’d wanted, to tell him if it was so. It was setting him on edge. Before long, there was nothing but the sound of his own footsteps, the beating of his heart in his ears. Anxious to do _something_ to counteract the feeling of isolation, he hurried into the first room he next came to, which was an empty bedroom, the bed stripped of sheets and all the furniture covered in white sheets. He poked around in there for a couple of minutes but there was nothing more interesting than a good inch thick layer of dust, and he gave it up for potentially better discoveries. 

The next room was a bathroom, then the one after that a large room full of bookshelves. The fourth room had a closed door but when Sanghyuk reached out to open it, his wards suddenly warmed in warning; although it would be more accurate to say that they warmed further, since being in this house was putting them in a constant state of distress. For a moment he hesitated, unsure of whether he really wanted to do this.

Taking a deep breath, he took the handle and pulled the door open.

Jaehwan was standing in the frame, looming over him, a grin on his face. “Hello, love,” he said.

Sanghyuk managed to bite down on his yelp of shock but he stumbled backwards, heart racing, until he hit the wall behind him with a heavy thud. He pressed his hands over his mouth, trying to calm himself, and heard Jaehwan give a light chuckle as he strode out of the room and shut the door beside him. Sanghyuk was a bit disappointed that he hadn’t been able to see more of the room. 

“What are you doing here?” Jaehwan asked, giving Sanghyuk a slow onceover that made Sanghyuk blush furiously. “Are you lost?”

“No, I was exploring,” Sanghyuk said, feeling lame even as he said it. 

“Exploring,” Jaehwan echoed. “Well, what did you discover?”

“You,” Sanghyuk said.

Jaehwan let out a bark of laughter and struck a pose. “Well, I am the best thing in this place,” he said, a slight purr in his voice. “The most interesting, the most aesthetically pleasing, etcetera.” 

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes at him. His heart rate seemed to have returned to normal for being in a nest of vampires, and he found that he could look at Jaehwan without feeling even a trace of the rising panic attack that he’d felt when he’d first met Taekwoon. Maybe it was because sometimes Jaehwan was such a giant nerd it was hard to be scared of him.

“I thought you might be wanting to say thank you,” Jaehwan added, dropping the pose and raising an eyebrow at Sanghyuk. “For the gifts I gave you.” 

Sanghyuk realised with a jolt that he hadn’t even given a thought to it. “Oh right!” he said, feeling a little ashamed. “Thank you.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Sanghyuk flashed back to the kiss, to the touch of Jaehwan’s mouth against his, lips softer and warmer than he’d been expecting. In the early mornings recently, after coming home from work and stumbling into bed in an exhausted tangle of limbs, he’d dreamed about that kiss, dreamed about more than just that kiss, and he didn’t want to count how many times he’d woken up with his boxers unpleasantly sticky.

He felt himself going red. “W-what?” he spluttered. 

Jaehwan touched his tongue to one of his fangs, in a weirdly animalistic grin. “The book, love, I’m talking about the book. Did you enjoy it?”

Sanghyuk felt himself going even redder. Jaehwan wasn’t even _talking_ about the kiss, and here he was, getting all flustered about it— although maybe he’d have preferred it if he was talking about the kiss because he hadn’t actually opened the book. “Uh,” he said, floundering a little, “it’s beautiful! I’m scared to open it because it’s so beautiful.” That was the truth, at the very least. “Plus,” he added, to shift the topic slightly, “I really do love history. It’s why I was looking around. This place is so old, I couldn’t resist.”

He realised almost immediately, from Jaehwan’s smile, that he’d said something stupid. “You know,” Jaehwan said, taking a step forward. It was too predatory, making Sanghyuk’s heart pick up again. “I’m living history. You could study me.” Despite the suddenly rising tension, Sanghyuk laughed. Jaehwan seemed pleased by that. “Or I could at least show you around. There’s quite a few stories I could tell you.” He swept his hand carelessly behind him to indicate his bedroom door. “And I’ve got some interesting artifacts in my bedroom, if you want to come in.” 

Suddenly the thundering of Sanghyuk’s heart had very little to do with the vampire in the hallway with him and everything to do with the shock of realising that he wanted to go into Jaehwan’s bedroom. He doubted that anything like scholarly research would take place if he went in there, and that was enough for him to know it was a terrible idea, and he wouldn’t do it, but _oh_ , he wanted.

He wanted badly.

“Uhm,” he said as he glanced back up the hallway to where he’d left the others, searching for a way to back out of this, some excuse. “Uh, I’d like that, very much—” politely, oh so politely — “but Hakyeon said that I shouldn’t be alone with you.” 

“We’re alone now,” Jaehwan said casually, voice dropping a little in a way that made goosebumps rise on Sanghyuk’s skin. “And you know, Hakyeon isn’t exactly a good role model to look up to. Neither of your mentors are, really. I mean, if you were followed their examples, you’d either fuck me or let me turn you.” He grinned, and Sanghyuk swallowed, heart stuttering before picking up even faster than before. “I guess it’s up to you which one you prefer.”

The words slipped out before Sanghyuk could think about them. “I like Hakyeon better.”

Jaehwan threw his head back and let out a bark of laughter that put Sanghyuk more in mind of a wolf. The movement was pure vampire though, smooth and unnervingly graceful. Sanghyuk’s nerves were back to jangling, his warded tattoos tittering at him. When the laughter stopped, Jaehwan looked at him expectantly. “What?” Sanghyuk snapped, still feeling warm around the cheeks.

“Does that mean you’re going to fuck me?”

Images flashed rapidly through Sanghyuk’s mind, images involving a lot of skin, Jaehwan’s skin, and Sanghyuk choked. “I didn’t say that!”

“No, but you thought it,” Jaehwan grinned. “It’s written all over your pretty virgin face.” Sanghyuk blushed red anew, muttering some pathetic denial. “Hakyeon, of course, had the best idea, as far as terrible ideas go. At least his decision isn’t permanent. Unless Taekwoon gets his way.” Sanghyuk blinked at him, confused, but Jaehwan forged on ahead. “Haven’t you been wondering what it’s like? To fuck a vampire?”

Sanghyuk shuffled his feet uncomfortably, eyes darting to Jaehwan’s bedroom door. The blush felt like it was threatening to take over his entire body, already spreading down his chest. Of course, the truth was, he had been, but he hadn’t expected Jaehwan to just come out and say it like that. Did he get off on being so horribly forward about everything, and embarrassing Sanghyuk? Even if he did want Sanghyuk, did he have to keep saying it like this and getting Sanghyuk flustered and unable to think of what to say? 

He swallowed the urge to say something that maybe would shock and fluster Jaehwan in return. _I haven’t been dreaming about fucking any random vamp, I’ve been dreaming of fucking you_.

He bit his tongue. 

“You have!” There was a note of delight in Jaehwan’s voice that Sanghyuk didn’t like. “No doubt you’ve been wondering what it’s like for Hakyeon, wondering why. It can be good, you know. I’ve had over three hundred years of experience.”

Sanghyuk jerked. “I haven’t—” he began nervously, and then fell silent. It was pointless to deny it, but he didn’t like how Jaehwan was mocking him for it, even now. 

Jaehwan moved, faster than Sanghyuk’s eyes could keep track of. Suddenly he was standing right in front of him, so close that Sanghyuk felt a brief brush of displaced air. Jaehwan reached out and took him by the upper arms, backing him up against a wall. Sanghyuk braced himself for a rough impact but it was rather gentle, Jaehwan pressing him there rather than forcing. When he’d touched him, Sanghyuk’s wards had gone off frantically, but Jaehwan didn’t even twitch. For a moment, the instinctive fear threatened to overwhelm Sanghyuk, and he let out a little cry, before falling silent, heaving in huge gasps of air to soothe his rattled nerves. 

“Stop doing that,” Sanghyuk said, trying to snap but failing because he was still gasping for air. “It— it startles me.”

“Sorry,” Jaehwan said, not sounding like he particularly was. “You simply looked so adorably conflicted, I wanted to help your decision.”

Sanghyuk wiggled, a little, and though Jaehwan’s hands on him were gentle, he found he couldn’t move with them holding him. He glared balefully up at Jaehwan. “You’re lucky I didn’t have a heart attack. And besides, what decision?”

“The one about whether to fuck me,” Jaehwan murmured, looking directly at him. Sanghyuk blushed, and turned his head away. Then he jumped as Jaehwan nuzzled his nose into the hair behind Sanghyuk’s ear. Sanghyuk put his hands on Jaehwan’s shoulders, to push him away, and then found that he couldn’t quite manage it. 

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” he whispered. His voice wavered from his uncertainty. His knees had gone weak, it was pathetic, he hated himself so much. 

Jaehwan pulled his face away and took Sanghyuk’s jaw with his fingers, turning Sanghyuk’s face to his. He was smiling, with just the barest hint of teeth, something wild in his eyes. “I told you. I want you. I want to fuck you.”

“Why?” Sanghyuk whispered, unable to look away from his eyes, and it was dangerous, so dangerous, to look a vampire in the eyes. It was stupid. He was being stupid, and he couldn’t _stop_ , it was like being mesmerised. Maybe Jaehwan was glamouring him.

“Because I do,” Jaehwan said simply. “And you want me too.”

Sanghyuk shook his head desperately. “I don’t, I don’t want to fuck you.”

“You’re just saying what you think you need to say,” Jaehwan said. “I can hear the lie in your heartbeat, can smell it on your skin. Just say yes, Sanghyuk.”

Sanghyuk held his breath. “What if I say no?”

Jaehwan grinned, baring his teeth, his fangs run out. 

For the first time, Sanghyuk felt a real stirring of fear. “If you’re going to eat me, then do it already.” 

“I don’t want to eat you,” Jaehwan said, full of derision like he thought Sanghyuk was actually an idiot. “As delicious as I’m sure you taste—” Alarm spiked in Sanghyuk and made his wards send out another shock that this time, made Jaehwan grin harder. “I don’t actually want to hurt you.”

“I don’t believe you,” Sanghyuk said.

Jaehwan shrugged. “You don’t have to.” He dipped his head quickly and pressed his nose to the hollow of Sanghyuk’s throat. “You do smell like you’d taste good.”

“Fuck,” said Sanghyuk, held still, held tense, fear and no small amount of perverse arousal pulsing through him as Jaehwan mouthed at his throat, head moving up so that his lips brushed his jaw. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ —” His wards were screaming at him, sending wave upon wave of energy through him that left his senses alight, every brush of Jaehwan’s lips burning like a brand. 

“Your wards tickle,” Jaehwan mumbled, the feeling of it rumbling through Sanghyuk. “They feel good.”

Sanghyuk groaned. He knew that the wards weren’t particularly effective against the Elimia, but hearing that they felt _good_ was particularly terrifying. He quieted them down, if they were just going to be useless energy drainers. Jaehwan was nuzzling at his cheek now, and Sanghyuk felt weak and warm, his brain fuzzy. Jaehwan tugged at his ear with his teeth— fangs, Sanghyuk thought, and even that wasn’t enough to deter the arousal. In fact, it made it worse. He could feel himself getting hard, and knew Jaehwan would be able to feel it.

“I can make you feel good, Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan murmured into his ear. “Let me show you.” 

Sanghyuk balled his fists, trying to turn his face away. He wanted so badly to say yes, to let Jaehwan show him. This was so wrong, this wasn’t how he was supposed to feel. “Stop glamouring me,” he gasped. 

“Oh, you poor thing,” Jaehwan whispered. “I’m not glamouring you.”

He opened his mouth to tell Jaehwan to stop lying — a glamour was surely the only explanation for this, the only possible one — but Jaehwan took that opportunity to cover his mouth with his own, kissing him insistently.

Sanghyuk squeaked again. Jaehwan held him flat against the wall, body pressed up against him. He was suddenly hot, his skin almost feverish. It made Sanghyuk feel even warmer, and he was even more certain that he was being glamoured now. Not that he knew what that felt like, and the anti-glamour tattoo on his chest was curiously silent, but that could be the only reason for this warm, floaty feeling. A lot of his fear and reservation seemed to have disappeared.

He began to kiss back, tentatively, not really sure what he was doing or why he was doing it. All he knew was that it felt good, he liked Jaehwan’s mouth on his, and he didn’t want it to stop. Jaehwan purred into his mouth, his hands leaving Sanghyuk’s arms and coming up to cup his face, hands tipping his head back further so that he could kiss Sanghyuk even harder, his tongue flicking into Sanghyuk’s mouth.

“Mmm,” he mumbled into Sanghyuk’s mouth. When he pulled away, Sanghyuk felt like he’d been taken apart and then put back together slightly off kilter. “You do taste good.”

“I— you—”

“You’re very receptive,” Jaehwan said, pressing their bodies together so that it was definitely impossible for him to miss Sanghyuk’s erection. Sanghyuk tried to squirm away anyway. “And it’s interesting, holding something that breathes. You’re so… every part of you moves. I see why Taekwoon found it so appealing.

Sanghyuk didn’t think he was capable of coherent speech. Luckily it didn’t matter, because then Jaehwan was kissing him again, and although it seemed impossible, Sanghyuk rather thought it was harder than before, rough and almost desperate. Before long his head was spinning so much he was glad that Jaehwan was holding him up. He could feel Jaehwan growing hard against him, and that just made him tingle with excitement rather than the expected fear— although that could just be the wards, which were starting to get restless again.

Jaehwan sucked on his bottom lip suddenly, dragging it between his teeth, fangs scraping slightly, and Sanghyuk cried out, arching in such a way that he ended up grinding his hips against Jaehwan’s. He couldn’t remember ever being so hard, it was _painful_. “Fuck,” Jaehwan panted against his mouth. 

“I can’t— I—” Sanghyuk gasped, trying to move simultaneously away from Jaehwan’s body and press up against him for more.

“Shh,” Jaehwan said, one of his hands sliding into Sanghyuk’s hair, gentle. Sanghyuk whimpered. “It’s okay.” 

No, it really wasn’t, Sanghyuk thought blearily. He was making out with a vampire. What’s more, he was getting off on it too. It was nothing like he’d expected it to be— but then, he didn’t have any experience with making out in general, so perhaps this was normal. Maybe the way his body was responding to Jaehwan’s touch was perfectly okay, considering the circumstances. Maybe it wasn’t— wrong?

Jaehwan rolled his hips against Sanghyuk’s, making him clutch at Jaehwan’s shoulders, a sharp gasp escaping his lips. Jaehwan did it again, and again, and Sanghyuk was panting so hard, trying desperately to get more air. Air would help him cool down, help him _think_ through the strange mist which had taken over his entire brain. He twisted his head away, gasping, and Jaehwan took the opportunity to kiss down his throat, sucking ever-so-gently at the skin. Sanghyuk moaned, knees gone weak.

Jaehwan laughed suddenly. “You really haven’t done this before, have you?” he asked, and didn’t wait for an answer — Sanghyuk didn’t think he could give one, beyond an inarticulate sound of indignation — before pressing his open mouth to the side of Sanghyuk’s neck, just above his shoulder, his fangs brushing against the skin. Sanghyuk went still, his wards flaring up, the rush of energy almost tipping him over the edge, but Jaehwan just sucked hard. Sanghyuk’s entire body twitched.

“Ah, please,” he gasped, pressing up, crotch bumping gracelessly against Jaehwan’s. It seemed bizarre that he could be so hard, so turned on, and yet not have come already. “I need— more, please, I know you can—”

Jaehwan growled against his neck, and a shock of fear shuddered through Sanghyuk at the sound. Jaehwan lifted his head, mouth red and kiss swollen, lips slick. He looked Sanghyuk directly in the eyes. His eyes were dark, beautiful; Sanghyuk tried to drag his gaze away but couldn’t. “I want to fuck you,” Jaehwan said huskily, enunciating carefully. “I want to _fuck_ you.”

“Yes,” Sanghyuk sobbed out, finally giving in. There was no point in refusing, not after he had fallen apart so thoroughly in Jaehwan’s arms. He wanted it too badly.

“Not now,” Jaehwan said, _promised_. “You’re too... gone. Are all humans like this? Not now, but later, properly, I want to fuck you properly. I want to see you writhe on a mattress, want to feel your rib cage expand with each shuddering breath. How long would it take you to come untouched if I fucked you properly? I can go for hours, you know. Part of the vampire goody bag, I suppose. You’ve barely lasted ten minutes. I want to fuck you until you’re sweaty and exhausted, until you’re a shuddering mess in my arms.”

Sanghyuk’s head was spinning as his imagination ran off ahead of him with Jaehwan’s words. He thought about Jaehwan’s hands on him, thought about being naked with Jaehwan between his legs, and moaned, long and filthy, hips jerking against Jaehwan’s. 

He was so close now, so _close_ —

“I want to taste you,” Jaehwan said softly, nosing at Sanghyuk’s neck again. “It’ll be safe, I promise. You can trust that. Just a taste, so I know. Can I, Sanghyuk? Can I taste you?”

“Yes,” Sanghyuk gasped. It was impossible to say no. He’d been fantasizing about it for weeks, wanted to know what it felt like, wanted to know if it would be good, and although he didn’t actually trust Jaehwan himself, he trusted that he really wouldn’t do anything that would anger Hakyeon or Taekwoon. 

Almost before the sound had actually left his lips, Jaehwan’s mouth was pressed against his neck, and his teeth sank in, faster than Sanghyuk had been expecting. He gave a cry of pain — it hurt, more than he’d thought it would — and his wards flared up in alarm, sending sparks through him. “Ah, _ah_ —” he cried, hands going into Jaehwan’s hair, able to feel the movements of him swallowing, drinking, drinking Sanghyuk’s _blood_ —

Sanghyuk came, so hard there were spots in his vision. His fingers tightened in Jaehwan’s hair, and it must have been painful, but Jaehwan just kept drinking. Sanghyuk ground his crotch against Jaehwan’s as his orgasm shuddered through him, before slumping, bonelessly. Jaehwan’s teeth left his throat and he licked over the puncture wounds. It was gentle, and it made Sanghyuk shiver.

“I like the way you shudder when you come,” Jaehwan mumbled. “You taste good.” He lifted his head and his mouth was stained with Sanghyuk’s blood.

Reality crashed down over Sanghyuk and he gagged, turning his head away. He shoved at Jaehwan with his hands, trying to push him away. Jaehwan blinked. “Get off, get off me,” Sanghyuk gasped, panic and fear suddenly clawing at him. Oh god, he’d just— let a vampire _bite_ him, it was the most basic rule and he’d just trampled all over it because, what, because he wanted to get off? And he had gotten off, he’d come because of a vampire. It was wrong, _he_ was wrong.

What the fuck had he done?

“Hey,” said Jaehwan, sounding alarmed. He stepped back, letting Sanghyuk slump to the ground, heaving in huge gasps of air. He felt like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the hall. His head was spinning but for very different reasons. He saw Jaehwan reaching for him and he hit his hand away.

“Don’t touch me,” he choked out.

“You need to calm down,” Jaehwan said, a little annoyed now. “It’s not that big of a deal—”

“What do you know?” Sanghyuk yelled. “Just, fuck off, go away, I don’t— want you here, I don’t want to talk to you— oh god, what— what did I just _do_?”

He dropped his head to his knees and so he sensed rather than saw Jaehwan leave. Good. He didn’t even care if Jaehwan was grumpy. He deserved it, after— after making Sanghyuk— do that—

He heard footsteps, and then Hakyeon’s voice. “Sanghyuk?” Hands gripped his shoulders, trying to make him look up, but Sanghyuk refused. “What is it, what’s wrong? Jaehwan said that you needed me—”

At the sound of Jaehwan’s name, Sanghyuk sobbed, but managed to look up, into Hakyeon’s fear filled face. “I— Hakyeon, I did something—”

“Is that— blood?” Hakyeon reached out and touched Sanghyuk’s collar. “Sanghyuk, why is there—”

“Jaehwan,” Sanghyuk said, voice meek, and that seemed to be enough for Hakyeon. His face went black with anger.

“I’m going to kill him,” he said, and despite everything, Sanghyuk laughed. Hakyeon looked a bit sheepish there. “Well. I can’t kill him. If I could, I’d have tried before now. But oh, Sanghyuk, I _told_ you—” He bit his lip and Sanghyuk looked away. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Sanghyuk let Hakyeon drag him away from the hallway, back to the living room where everyone was waiting. He ignored the stares from the other vampires, pressing close to Hakyeon, who’d tucked him protectively against his side. Nobody spoke to him, nobody protested Hakyeon’s request that they leave. Nobody mentioned what they must be able to smell all over him, and he was grateful for it, and ashamed. 

He thought about telling Hakyeon the full story, about what else had happened beyond the feeding. Something, perhaps the memory of Jaehwan’s voice as he’d promised to fuck him _properly_ , kept him quiet.

He would later find out that keeping quiet about the rabbit hole meant that there was no one around to drag him out of it.


End file.
